Dearest Eulalia

by Betty Neels

  He phoned later that evening and she gave a sigh of relief at the sound of his voice.

  ‘You have had a happy day?’he wanted to know.

  She told him briefly. It would have been nice to have described her shopping to him in some detail but after a day’s work he might not appreciate that. ‘I’ve had a lovely day and Ko took me and Humbert to Vondel Park this afternoon. Have you been busy?’

  ‘Yes. I shall have to stay another day, I’m afraid. I’ll ring you tomorrow and let you know at what time I’ll be home.’

  She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She said, ‘Take care, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, and you too. Tot ziens.’

  It was raining the next morning but that couldn’t dampen Eulalia’s determination to do some more shopping. In the Burberry and the little hat she went in search of boots and shoes. She had seen what she wanted on the previous day in a shop in the Kalverstraat—boots, soft leather with a sensible heel, and plain court shoes, black, and, since she could afford it, brown as well. She would need more than these but the boots were expensive and she needed gloves…

  Her purchases made, she went into a café and ordered coffee and then walked home, getting lost on the way. Not that she minded; she was bound to miss her way until she had lived in Amsterdam for some time. She had a tongue in her head and everyone seemed to speak English…

  After lunch she went to the kitchen and sat down at the big scrubbed table with Ko and Katje. It was a room after her own heart, with a flagstone floor, old-fashioned wooden armchairs on either side of the Aga and a great wooden dresser with shelves loaded with china. There were cupboards too and Katje showed her the pantry, the boot room and the laundry and a narrow staircase behind a door in the wall.

  It was a delightful room, and she sat there feeling very much at home, realising that it was her home now.

  The afternoon passed quickly, looking into cupboards with Katje, going round the house once more, examining piles of linen stacked in vast cupboards, being shown where the keys of the house were kept, the wine cellar, the little room where Ko kept the silver locked up.

  She had her tea presently, had a long telephone talk with Tom and Pam and then had her dinner. Aderik had said that he would phone and she went back to the drawing room to wait for his call. When he did ring it was almost eleven o’clock and he had little to say, only that he would be home in the late afternoon.

  Eulalia put the phone down feeling let down and then she told herself that she was being a fool. Aderik had probably had a hard day; the last thing he wanted to do was to listen to her chatter. And he was coming home tomorrow.

  Just before she slept she decided to wear the jersey dress. ‘It will really be very nice to see him again,’ she muttered sleepily. ‘I hope he feels the same about me.’

  She woke in the night with the terrible thought that he might not like having her for his wife after all but in the sane light of morning she had forgotten it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  IT WAS wet and cold and very windy in the morning. Eulalia was glad that she had done all the shopping she had planned to do and needed little persuasion from Ko to stay indoors. She peered out at the dismal weather and hoped that Aderik would have a good journey home. It was a pity that he hadn’t told her if he was likely to arrive earlier. She got into the jersey dress, did her face with extra care and arranged her hair just so before going to the library to wander round its shelves with Humbert for company. She drank her coffee, going every now and then to look out of the window to see if the Bentley was outside.

  There was still no sign of it as she ate her lunch and since sitting around waiting was pointless she set off to explore the house again. This time she went to the very top floor and discovered the attics—two rooms under the gabled roof with tiny windows back and front. They were filled with tables and chairs, old pictures, boxes of china and glass and long-forgotten children’s toys. There were great leather trunks too; she hauled on their lids and discovered dresses of a bygone age carefully wrapped in tissue paper.

  Someone had left a pinny hanging on a door and she put it on for the rooms were dusty and sat down on one of the trunks to examine a large box filled with toys, while Humbert, bored, went to sleep on a pile of rugs.

  Mr van der Leurs, coming silently into his house, got no further than the hall before Ko came to meet him, took his coat and his overnight case and offered him coffee or a meal. He wanted neither but took his briefcase to his study and asked, ‘Mevrouw is home? It seems very quiet…’

  ‘She was in the library but I believe she went upstairs.’ He added, ‘Humbert was with her—devoted he is, already.’

  Mr van der Leurs went up the staircase; for such a big man he was light on his feet and quiet. He paused on the landing for his ear had caught a faint sound from somewhere above him. He went on up to the next floor and then opened the small door in a wall which led to the narrow stairs to the attics. It was cold up there, for which reason Eulalia had closed the door at the top of the stairs, and as he opened it Humbert hurled himself at him. Mr van der Leurs stood for a moment, the great dog in his arms, staring over his head at Eulalia, getting to her feet, hampered by the armful of dolls she was holding. She put them down carefully, beaming at him.

  ‘Aderik, you’re home…’ She took off the pinny. ‘I meant to be sitting in the drawing room looking welcoming, only you didn’t come so I came up here to pass the time and now I’m a bit dusty.’

  Words which brought a gleam to his eye but all he said was, ‘How very nice you look; is that a new dress?’ He crossed the room and kissed her, a friendly kiss conveying nothing of his feelings. ‘How delightful it is to be home again.’

  ‘It’s almost tea time but would you like a meal? Did you have a good flight and was the visit to Rome successful?’

  ‘Shall we have tea round the fire and I’ll tell you about my trip?’

  ‘Oh, please. I’ll just put these dolls back…’

  They went back down to the drawing room with Humbert at their heels and found Ko arranging the tea tray before the fire. Since Katje had a poor opinion of the meals Mr van der Leurs was offered when he was away from home, there was a splendid selection of tiny sandwiches, hot crumpets in their lidded dish, currant bread and butter and a Madeira cake—Katje considered that she made the finest Madeira cake in Amsterdam.

  Over tea and for an hour or more after, he told her where he had been and why, what he had done and where he had stayed. Listening to his quiet voice gave her the pleasant feeling that they had been married for years, completely at ease with each other and like any other married couple.

  ‘I don’t need to go to hospital today,’ said Aderik. ‘Would you like to meet Daisy? Jules will probably be at home too.’

  ‘Yes, please. Jules looked very nice and I’d like to meet Daisy.’

  The der Huizmas lived less than ten minutes’ walk away and it was bright and cold. Walking through narrow streets, crossing canals by narrow bridges with Humbert walking sedately beside them, Eulalia asked, ‘They don’t mind Humbert coming too?’

  ‘No, they have a dog—Bouncer; he and Humbert are the greatest of friends.’

  As they mounted the steps to the front door Eulalia saw that the house was very similar to Aderik’s but she had no time to look around before the door was opened.

  ‘Joop,’ Mr van der Leurs greeted the severe-looking man, who stood aside so that they might enter. ‘We’re expected? Eulalia, this is Joop who runs the house with Jette, his wife.

  ‘My wife, Joop.’

  Eulalia offered a hand and watched the severe elderly face break into a smile before he led the way across the hall to a door which was flung open before they reached it.

  The girl who came to meet them was small, with no pretensions to good looks, but her smile was lovely.

  Aderik gave her a hug and kissed her soundly. ‘Daisy, I’ve brought Eulalia as I promised.’ He turned to greet Jules who had followed his
wife.

  Daisy took Eulalia’s hand. ‘You’re as beautiful as Aderik said you were. I do hope we shall be friends…’

  ‘I’m sure we shall.’ Eulalia was kissed in her turn by Jules who took her coat and hat and urged her into the drawing room. All this while Humbert had been sitting, quivering with impatience, and once in the room he went to greet the rather odd-looking dog who came trotting to meet him. ‘Bouncer,’ explained Daisy.

  Jules added, ‘A dog of many ancestors but devoted to all of us as well as Humbert. Come and sit by the fire and tell us what you have been doing since you arrived.’

  They talked over their coffee and biscuits and then the two men went to Jules’s study and the dogs with them.

  ‘So now shall we go and see Julius? He’s three weeks old today. He’ll be asleep because I’ve just fed him. Jules’s sister’s nanny came to help me for a while but I want to look after him myself—and Jules is marvellous with him.’

  She led the way upstairs into a large airy room. There was an elderly woman sitting in a chair knitting who smiled and nodded at them as they went in to bend over the cot.

  Julius was sleeping, a miniature of his father, and Daisy said, ‘Isn’t he gorgeous? We had to call him Julius after Jules’s father but it’s a nice name, don’t you think?’

  ‘Just right for him; he’s a lovely boy. You must be so proud of him.’

  Eulalia looked at the sleeping baby, thinking she would like one just like him…

  Perhaps in a while Aderik would become fond of her—she knew he liked her otherwise he wouldn’t have married her, but he treated her as a dear friend and that wasn’t the same. He hadn’t mentioned love—it was she who had done that and his answer had been almost casual.

  Later, on their way back to the house, Eulalia said, ‘They’re happy, aren’t they? Jules and Daisy—how did they meet?’

  ‘Daisy came to Amsterdam to see about some antiques and fell into a canal, and Jules fished her out—they had met in England at her father’s antiques shop but I imagine her ducking started the romance.’

  ‘He must love her very dearly—I mean, I don’t suppose Daisy looked too glamorous…’

  He said evenly, ‘I don’t imagine that glamour has much to do with falling in love.’

  ‘Well, no, but I should think it might help…’

  Next morning they had breakfast together and he left the house directly they had finished, saying he wasn’t sure when he would be home. She decided she would go to the shops and get something to do—knitting or tapestry work. Until she knew some people time would hang heavily on her hands. Of course when Aderik had the time he would introduce her to his family and friends…

  A question which was partly settled when he got home that evening.

  ‘It will be the feast of St Nikolaas in a day or two,’ he told her. ‘You will have seen the shops… St Nikolaas comes to the hospital and perhaps you would like to come and see him? It would be a good opportunity for you to meet some of my colleagues there with their wives and children. It’s something of an occasion, especially for the children.’

  ‘I’d like that. What time does he come?’

  ‘Eleven o’clock. I’ll come and fetch you about half past ten.’ He smiled at her. ‘I think you’ll enjoy it. The day after tomorrow.’

  She saw him only briefly the next day for he left the house directly after breakfast. It was evening before he came home and then after dinner he went to his study. When, feeling peevish, she went to wish him goodnight he made no effort to keep her talking.

  At breakfast he reminded her to be ready when he came for her.

  ‘You are sure you want me to come?’ She sounded tart and he looked up from the letter he was reading to stare at her.

  ‘Quite sure,’ he told her mildly. ‘Everyone’s looking forward to meeting you.’

  Which she decided wasn’t a very satisfactory answer.

  But she took care to be ready for him and she had taken great pains with her appearance—the new coat, one of the new dresses, the little hat just so on her dark hair, good shoes and handbag. She hoped that she looked exactly as the wife of a respected member of the medical profession should look.

  It seemed that she did for when Aderik came into the house he gave her a long, deliberate look and said quietly, ‘I’m proud of my wife, Lally.’

  She said breathlessly, ‘Oh, are you really, Aderik? What a nice thing to say. I’m feeling a bit nervous.’

  ‘No need.’ He spoke casually, popped her into the car and drove to the hospital.

  Its forecourt was filled with people, mostly children. He parked in the area reserved for the senior consultants and took her into the vast foyer through a side door. There was a crowd round the entrance but there were small groups of people standing and chatting at the back. Eulalia reminded herself that she was no longer the canteen lady and took comfort from Aderik’s hand under her elbow and found herself shaking hands with the hospital director and his wife and then a seemingly endless succession of smiling faces and firm handshakes. And Daisy was there with Jules.

  ‘Hello, you do look nice. What did you think of the director and his wife?’

  ‘Friendly; he looks awfully nice and kind and so does his wife.’

  ‘They are. You do know that she is English?’ And at Eulalia’s surprised look Daisy added, ‘Husbands do forget things, don’t they? She came over here to nurse, oh, years ago, and they got married and they’re devoted to each other. They’ve got four children, three boys and a girl. Her name’s Christina. She’s forty-five. She gives lovely dinner parties and we all like her very much.’

  She beamed at Eulalia. ‘You will be very happy here andAderik is a dear. We’re all so glad that he’s found you. You will get asked out a lot, you know.’

  The men had joined them and everyone was moving forward to get a good view. St Nikolaas was approaching; they could hear the children shouting and clapping and a moment later Eulalia saw him seated on his white horse, in his bishop’s robes, riding into the forecourt with his attendant, Zwarte Piet, running beside him, the sack into which he would put all the naughty children over his shoulder.

  The noise was terrific as he got off his horse and stood in the forecourt, an impressive figure who presently addressed his audience in a long speech. Eulalia didn’t understand a word but she found it fascinating and when he had finished clapped and cheered as loudly as anyone there.

  St Nikolaas came into the foyer then, making his stately way towards the children’s wards. He paused to speak to the director, nodded graciously to everyone as he passed and disappeared into one of the lifts with the director and his wife.

  Aderik took her arm. ‘He will be about half an hour and then he comes back to the courtyard and throws sweets to the children there. We’re going to have lunch now—another opportunity for you to get to know everyone.’

  He glanced down at her happy face. ‘Enjoying it?’

  ‘Oh, yes. Does he go anywhere else?’

  ‘The other hospitals in Amsterdam. Of course there is a St Nikolaas in every town and village. It’s a great occasion for the children for he leaves presents for them by the fireplace in their homes and if a grown-up finds a gift by his plate he mustn’t ask who it is from but thank St Nikolaas for it. Now if you’re ready we’ll go and have lunch.’

  A buffet had been set up in the consultants’ room, a vast apartment furnished solidly with a great deal of brown leather and dark wood. Chairs and tables had been set up and everybody fetched their food and found places to sit with friends.

  Mr van der Leurs piled a plate of food for Eulalia, settled her at a table with Daisy, the casualty officer’s wife and two younger doctors, promised to be back shortly and went away. The doctors were friendly, only too pleased to tell her about St Nikolaas and Zwarte Piet, and she began to enjoy herself.

  Presently they were joined by an older man who introduced himself as Pieter Hirsoff, one of the anaesthetists. He was charming to Eulalia and
she responded rather more warmly than she realised. It was pleasant to be chatted up… When he suggested that she might like to see one of the many museums in the city, she agreed readily. ‘But not the Rijksmuseum,’ she told him. ‘Aderik has promised to take me there.’

  ‘I know just the right one for you—a patrician house furnished just as it was when it was first built. It’s on one of the grachten. Suppose I come for you tomorrow afternoon? I’m sure you will enjoy it.’

  He excused himself then and Eulalia joined in the general talk, wondering where Aderik had got to.

  He came presently with Jules. They had been up to their wards, they explained, and St Nikolaas was about to leave.

  ‘I’ll drive you home,’ he told Eulalia, ‘but I must come back here for a while.’

  Daisy said quickly, ‘Come back with us, Eulalia, and have tea. Jules has to come back here and I’d love a gossip. Aderik can fetch you when he’s finished here.’

  So Eulalia went back to the der Huizmas’ and had tea with Daisy and talked about the morning’s events. Baby Julius was brought down to be fed and then lay placidly sleeping on Eulalia’s lap while they discussed Christmas.

  ‘We go to Jules’s family home and so do the rest of his family. It’s great fun. I dare say you’ll go to Aderik’s family. You haven’t met them yet?’

  ‘No. There wasn’t much time to arrange anything before we married and Aderik doesn’t have much free time.’

  ‘Oh, well,’ said Daisy comfortably. ‘You’ll see them all at Christmas. Now you’ve met everyone at the hospital you’ll make lots of friends, but I hope we’ll be friends, real friends, you and me.’

  * * *

  It was later that evening as Eulalia and Aderik sat together after dinner that she told him she was going to spend the afternoon with Dr Hirsoff.